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I’m Bob Larson. The USDA’s National Ag Statistic Service is wrapping up Census of Agriculture data collection within the next few days, but it’s not too late to be counted.

NASS Northwest Region director Chris Mertz says the deadline is this Friday, June 15th, but wants to emphasize how important the information they collect is …

MERTZ … “There’s a lot of people that use this information for farmers, on behalf of the farmers too. A lot of the commodity organizations are using this information when they’re lobbying with Congress at the national level or at the state level.”

Mertz says one area it really helps out in is research which is very important here in Washington …

MERTZ … “There are dollars for research. Researchers are getting dollars for research on impact and getting dollars for new varieties or new techniques or new products to use. And, I’d like to say that the data that we’re providing is helping people promote agriculture and to defend agriculture. So, the best data set we have possible gives a lot to these other people that are working on behalf of the producers.”

Mertz says the data is a running history of agriculture …

MERTZ … “Government’s been conducting the Census of Agriculture since the mid-1800’s. So, this is a long-time data set and its very interesting information. It shows how agriculture has changed over time because agriculture is a very important industry.”

Mertz says farmers and ranchers who have not responded by Friday, can still complete the Census online until the end of July … at www.agcensus.usda.gov

To date, the return is around 64%, up nearly 18% since the USDA’s last update.